This invention relates to electrical center and more particularly to an electrical center that has a circuit board and a power bus bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,752 issued to Gary C. Detter et al. Jun. 11, 1991 discloses an electrical distribution center for a vehicle electrical system that includes stacked circuit arrays of varying current capacity located between an upper housing and a lower housing each having terminal access holes for receiving terminals formed on pre-stamped metal circuit elements. The electrical terminals are selectively connected to either electrical or electronic devices carried on top of the upper housing or to wiring connectors connected to the outer surface of the lower housing. The pre-stamped metal circuit elements are removably mounted in recesses in a plurality of stacked electrical insulation boards supported within the lower housing.
The electrical distribution center includes a power bus that includes an ear portion that is adapted to be connected to a battery cable. The power bus is a stamped plate of electrically conductive material that has a plurality of high capacity male terminals that supply power to one side of respective high capacity fuses, the other sides of which are connected to various electrical circuits of the vehicle via the wiring connectors. The stamped plate of the power bus is sandwiched between electrical/insulting boards. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,102 issued to James William Borzi et al. Jun. 20, 2000.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,215,555 issued to Kouichi Takagi May 8, 2007 discloses an electrical distribution center for a vehicle in which a bus bar structure plate has a mounting region as shown in FIG. 1. The mounting region is adhered to the bottom of a control circuit board as shown in FIG. 5. Electronic devices are then mounted on the bus bar structure plate through holes in the control circuit board as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Terminal portions are then bent up from the structure plate as shown in FIG. 8 and the bus bar structure plate is then severed at several locations as shown in FIG. 2A or 2B or 2C to form a circuit body structure which is then installed in a case as shown in FIG. 9.
The electrical centers illustrated in the patents discussed above are both characterized by a power bus bar that lies flat against a circuit board. The power bus bars generate heat during use which must be dissipated in some fashion through conduction, radiation and/or convection. In some instances dissipation of the heat generated by the power bus bars does not require any special consideration. However, in other instances, dissipation of the heat generated by the bus bars can require special measures. For instance, the electrical center disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,215,555 issued to Kouichi Takagi incorporates a large aluminum heat sink to dissipate heat as shown in FIG. 10 of the patent.